Blade Symphony trailer shows dueling, slash-dancing swordsmen

What's slash dancing, you ask? It's my term for the act of spinning on one's back and head like a rug-burning dervish as you swing a sword up, down, upside-down, and everywhere else in Puny Human's Blade Symphony . Symphony's one-on-one affairs of honor are stylized, third-person measures of agility and timing reminiscent of the PS1's Bushido Blade and old-school lightsaber fencing in Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.

The speed and momentum of battle looks challengingly high, as strings of attacks and dodges, dashes, and dives across three stances afford multiple degrees of dealing the pain by your blade. Puny Human says each character brings over 40 different attacks modified by the type of sword chosen for the fight, and if vanquishing your mortal enemy isn't enough to sate your bloodlust, you can grab a buddy for 2 vs. 2 or free-for-all setups. All of it gets tracked on global leaderboards for the "THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE" crowd.

Blade Symphony enjoyed a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2011 to bring its jumpy combat onto Steam, and Puny Human is keeping the game in closed beta for now. Signing up on the team's official website provides updates on when the game will become available for all.